churl

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cherl, also churl and cheorl,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English ceorl (“man, husband; freeman of the lowest rank”),^[5][6][7][8] inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kerl,^[1][5] inherited from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“elder; man”),^[1] which Etymonline and Barnhart give as *kerlaz and *karlaz,^[7][6] from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to grow old, mature”).^[1][6][4][9] It is cognate with Old Frisian zerl (“man, fellow”), Middle Low German kerle, Dutch kerel, German Kerl and Old Norse karl (“old man, man”),^[7][6][10] and outside Germanic with Ancient Greek γέρων (gérōn, “old man”) and a Sanskrit word for "old".^[6][3][4] Old High German karal (“man, husband, lover”) gave the name Medieval Latin Carolus, borne by Charlemagne, and that name in turn gave words for "king" such as Lithuanian karalius, Czech král and Polish król.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A man, especially a husband: before 800, in the Corpus Glossary, according to Barnhart and the OED.^[6][5] The legal sense, a freeman of the lowest rank, is found before 1000, as in the laws of Alfred.^[6][5] In Beowulf the word could still be used of a noble man and even of a king.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In the Old English social order a ceorl was a free man without rank, below the thane.^[5][10][3] After the Norman Conquest most of them were reduced to villeinage, and between about 1225 and 1607 the word could mean a serf.^[5] From about 1275, in Laȝamon, it also meant a countryman or peasant, and since about 1300 a base or rude fellow, the source of the modern sense;^[5][7] Barnhart places the disparaging use about 1250.^[6] Chaucer has it 45 times, glossed as both peasant and boor.^[12] Weekley and Etymonline compare the similar decline of boor and villain.^[13][7] The sense of a miser, recorded from Coverdale's Bible in 1535,^[5] is linked by Wiktionary to the churlish Nabal of the Bible.^[1] Johnson (1755) listed a rustic, a rude ill-bred man and a miser.^[14] The slang phrase put a churl upon a gentleman, to drink beer after wine, is recorded from about 1698.^[15]

Timeline

• before 800 – a man, a husband, as ceorl.^[6][5]
• before 1000 – a freeman of the lowest rank.^[6][5]
• c. 1225 – a serf or bondman, obsolete by 1607.^[5]
• c. 1275 – a countryman, a peasant.^[5][2]
• c. 1300 – a base or rude fellow.^[5][7]
• 1535 – a miser.^[5]
• c. 1698 – put a churl upon a gentleman, to drink beer after wine.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rude, bad-mannered, surly person; a boor.^[16][3][5]
2. (archaic) A peasant or farm labourer; a rustic.^[16][10][5]
3. (historical) In Anglo-Saxon England, a freeman of the lowest rank; a ceorl.^{[3][10][5][16]}
4. (archaic) A stingy person; a miser.^{[10][3][5][14]}
5. (obsolete, 1225–1607) A serf or villein.^[5][3][10]
6. (obsolete) A man; a husband.^[3][10][5]

Word family

• churlish

Related words

• carl
• ceorl
• corn
• Charles
• Caroline
• housecarl
• geronto-

Usage notes

In Worcestershire and Shropshire dialect, churl was a name for the common wallflower.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Klaeber, Fr., ed. (1922), Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, Boston: D. C. Heath
12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)